Dozens reported killed as rival Afghan Taliban groups clash

HERAT, Afghanistan, Dec 8 (Reuters) - More than 50 people
have been killed and dozens more wounded in renewed fighting
between rival Taliban factions in Shindand district near the
western Afghan city of Herat, a local police spokesman said on
Tuesday.

The latest clashes underlined the fragmented state of the
Islamist movement since the Taliban confirmed in July that its
founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had died more than two years
earlier in 2013.

Rival groups have rejected the authority of Omar's successor
Mullah Akhtar Mansour and called for a new process to choose a
leader. There has been intermittent fighting in which scores
have been killed.

Ehsanullah Hayat, a police spokesman in Herat, said 54
insurgents had been killed and around 40 wounded in the fighting
between commanders loyal to Mullah Mansour and his rival Mullah
Mohammad Rasool Akhund, which he said was continuing.

The clashes follow days of confusion over the fate of Mullah
Mansour. Reports that he had been seriously wounded in a
shootout with other Taliban commanders were rebutted in an audio
recording purporting to show he was still alive.

It was not immediately possible to obtain a comment from the
Taliban about the latest fighting.

Separately, a video apparently from an Afghan member of the
Islamic State movement accused the Taliban of operating under
the control of Pakistani intelligence services and ignoring
sharia, as well as allying itself with Shi'ite Iran.

The message, from a militant identified as Abdu Yasir
al-Afghani, highlighted the growing rivalry between supporters
of Islamic State and the Taliban, and came on the same day
regional powers began a conference in Islamabad to discuss how
to stabilize Afghanistan.

"So my brothers, our biggest objection to the Islamic
Emirate (Taliban) is their relations with Pakistan and their
cooperation with ISI (Pakistani intelligence), which is the
basis for their action," the video message says.
(Reporting by Jalil Rezaee and Jibran Ahmed in Peshawar;
Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Mike Collett-White)